Various types of electronic units are mounted on an automobile as a moving body. In order to transmit electric power, control signals and so on to these electronic units, the aforesaid automobile is provided with wire harnesses. Each of the wire harnesses includes a plurality of electric wires and a plurality of connectors. The electric wire is a so-called sheathed electric wire which includes a core wire having electrical conductivity and an insulating sheath for covering the core wire.
The connector is provided with terminal metals having electrical conductivity and a connector housing of insulating material. The terminal metals are attached to end parts of the electric wires to be electrically connected to the core wires. The connector housing contains the terminal metals. The connectors of the aforesaid wire harnesses are adapted to be coupled to the connectors of the electronic units thereby to transmit the control signals and so on to the electronic units.
Meanwhile, in the aforesaid automobile, provision of additional functions has been requested by drivers, passengers and so on. For this reason, there has been a tendency that the electronic units to be mounted on the automobile have increased in number, resulting in a large size and an increase of weight of the wire harness. In order to attain compactness and light weight of the wire harness, a flat circuit body such as a flexible printed circuit (hereinafter referred to as FPC) and a flexible flat cable (hereinafter referred to as FFC) has been employed instead of the electric wires, in some cases.
The flat circuit body such as the FPC and FFC is formed in a strip-like shape having a plurality of conductors, a pair of insulating sheets and so on. The plurality of conductors are arranged in parallel to each other. The pair of insulating sheets cover these conductors, by interposing the conductors between them. In case where such flat circuit body has been employed, various types of connectors have been proposed in order to allow the flat circuit body to be electrically connected to the aforesaid electronic units and printed circuit boards, etc.
The connector which electrically connects the above described flat circuit body to the electronic units includes a holder which has been attached to an end part of the flat circuit body, and a connector housing of female type (hereinafter referred to as a female housing) which has been mounted on the printed circuit board or the like. The female housing contains the terminal metals to be electrically connected to conductors of the aforesaid printed circuit board.
The holder is provided with an engaging part, while the female housing is provided with an engaged part to be engaged with the engaging part. When the engaging part is engaged with the engaged part, the holder can be fitted to the female housing. In this state, the conductors of the flat circuit body and the aforesaid terminal metals are electrically connected to each other. Then, the terminal metals are connected to the aforesaid electronic units by way of the printed circuit board or the like. In this manner, the flat circuit body transmits the electric power, control signals and so on to the electronic units.
In case where the above described connector has been employed, the holder and the female housing have been fitted to each other in an assembling line of the wire harnesses and an assembling line of the automobiles. The aforesaid holder and the female housing can be made compact, because they are employed for connection of the flat circuit body. For this reason, it has been difficult for a worker to recognize whether or not the engaging part of the holder and the engaged part of the female housing have been reliably engaged with each other.
In short, it has been difficult to recognize whether the holder and the female housing have been reliably engaged or not. Accordingly, there has been such an anxiety that electrical connection between the conductors of the flat circuit body and the terminal metals of the female housing may become unstable. In the worst case, there has been concerned that the conductors of the flat circuit body and the terminal metals of the female housing may not be electrically connected.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector in which it is possible to easily recognize whether or not a holder which holds electric wires and a female housing have been reliably engaged with each other.